Living in Peru : your everyday companion

(original Spanish text by Wilfredo Sandoval Bayona, El Comercio)

IN THE FOREST. A mausoleum has been found next to one of the pyramids at the sanctuary of Pomac.

(LIP-wb) Last Saturday could not have been happier for Japanese anthropologist Izumi Shimada. On the same day he turned 58 years old, he managed to decipher an enigma that began 28 years ago when he first started his research on the ancient Peruvian Sicán and Lambayeque cultures.

The entrails of the Pomac Forest Historic Sanctuary finally revealed one of the old secrets kept by these Peruvian ancestors who showed a special interest in worshiping their dead.

For that purpose they constructed pyramids that even today emerge between one of the oldest and densest carob trees forests in the world, located in the district of Pítipo, in Ferreñafe, near the northern Peruvian city of Chimbote.

Excavation workers - supervised by Carlos Elera Arevalo, Peruvian co-director of the project - removed hundreds of tons of adobe and sand to reveal a mausoleum 35 meters (115 ft.) long and 15 meters (50 ft.) wide. What appeared were deeply rooted funeral customs that lasted about five hundred years and were repeated every 25 years with ceremonies held on the esplanade of the ancient cemetery.

After archaeologists finish their research, excavations are covered to avoid the presence of looters and vandals

According to the evidence found during excavations which started on July 20th, 2006, the elite funeral traditions of the Sicán people consisted of enclosing lots of treasures such as masks made of precious metals and copper alloys, fine pieces of ceramics, textiles, and other ornaments that appeared in the dirt up to 10 meters deep.

Funeral ceremonies must have lasted several days before they retired from the sacred place. Any evidence of the tombs existence was meticulously erased by covering it with layers of ashes from previously burned tree branches and leafs.

The excavation process also managed to discover up to twenty fireplaces on the western sector of the pyramid only thirty five meters away, which suggests that the old inhabitants of Sicán had a deep admiration for the dead by turning these funerals into an essential activity of their lives.

A few meters underneath the oblations, workers found twenty skeletons whose identity is still being investigated. This latest find provides an abundant set of information because the area had not been touched by plunderers and vandals. The tombs have remained subterranean for almost 1000 years.

One of the remains found belongs to a woman between 20 and 25 years of age. Her chamber is the size of three square meters and about a hundred small ceramic objects were found lying next to her plus several leafs made of copper and gold, other objects made of bronze, all representing their God, Sicán.

DEAD PERSON. This is one of the skeletons found at the burial site. Research will continue to find out more about the Sicán culture in northern Peru.

What really surprised the scientists of the archaeological project named Sicán-Huaca Loro was the discovery of an elite person that was buried underneath the terrace of the adobe pyramid.

The individual was in a seating position, with legs crossed, which would refer to a ruler of some sort. Next to him, a metallic crown, colorful ceramic gifts, a pectoral of a thorny oyster (Spondylus), a cororful “kero” (vase or bucket) and two “tumis” (sacrificial ceremonial knifes) and a “tumbaga”, an alloy composed of gold and copper.

The findings are rather sensational because one of the ceremonial knives measures 35 centimeters (13.8 inches) and has an engraved image of the God Sicán or Naylamp, the mythical name of a wise and courageous warrior. This constitutes a new landmark in Peruvian archaeology because a tumi is an object that has characteristic similarities to the another well-known tumi that was looted from another nearby archaeological site known as the Huaca La Ventana about 70 years ago.

PARTNERS. Izumi Shimada and Carlos Elera lead the group of scientists and excavation workers.

Archaeologists believe that up to 90 percent of all gold plundered from tombs in Peru comes from Sicán sites in the Lambayeque Valley. Indeed, Sicán masks, with their characteristic ojos alados (winged eyes), are found in private collections all over their world.

In 1936, renowned Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello managed to track down a huge collection of gold artifacts looted from Huaca La Ventana en Batán Grande, including the golden tumi weighing 992 grams. Fortunately Tello was able to save many of these objects for Lima’s Museo de Oro (sadly, the tumi was later stolen by delinquents and melted down).

The tumi now discovered has also a special meaning because it is first one found within its archaeological context and it reveals previously unpublished details such as the characteristics of the persons who had the privilege to put it in their dowry.

Archaeologists have also found another detail that could have the meaning of a lost link.

For the first time, and unlike previous discoveries, similar to the burial location of Señor de Sicán, this governor was buried facing east, towards the remains of the Huaca El Oro o Loro. This could mean that another person of greater hierarchy exists. In other words, apparently he is a gentleman of an elite group which could have also been buried in the middle of the forest.

SENSATION. A tumi. A ceremonial knive measuring 35 cm (13.8 in.)has an engraved image of the God Sicán or Naylamp.

The director of the National Museum of Sicán, Carlos Elera Arevalo, revealed that the recent findings at the Huaca El Oro o Loro could lead to the tracks of ancestors even older than the people of Sicán or Lambayeque.

“Following our tradition of doing research with a multi-disciplinary approach, we have a significant example of burials for the first time that make it possible to associate with the people holding power in the area at the time. It seems that the head of lineage and his close relatives were buried in a land specially prepared for funeral purposes”, he said.

Elera explained that the construction of a pyramid has a special meaning because it obeys to a funeral program with an architectonic concept and that was destined for a real lineage, for the elite, intimately bound to the deity Sicán or God Naylamp.
Elera advanced that he and Dr. Shimada ordered an analyses directed by a physical anthropologist. The results revealed that the human remains found during the excavation belong to healthy individuals not dedicated to heavy labor. For that reason, it is difficult to distinguish the bones of a man from a woman because they have similar characteristics.

PRECIOUS CERAMICS. This image of a vixen carries its puppy with the mouth.

“For the first time we have a burial set of the elite which we have been able to document completely. The complete results will be known within a year and we predict that in 2008 we can organize an exhibition at the National Museum of Sciences of Japan”, Shimada said with a smile.

Carlos Elera indicated that, in addition to the archaeological investigation in the area, a tied project would have to be carried out for the Pomac’s tourist preparation, with the purpose of installing adapted signs, rural lodgings in the surroundings of the forest, services and museums.

“We envision a Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary that is “auto-sustainable”, a controlled area that connects tourists with the surrounding area. We are mainly looking for measures to keep invaders away that today not only devastate the forest, but are also destroying important archaeological vestiges like the huacas Lucia, Chólope and Soledad, where farmers have settled and wells were built”, he declared.

GRAPHIC. Map and chronology of the Pomac Forest Historic Sanctuary.

He emphasized that Peru’s Judicial Power has the great challenge to reject abrogation filed by lawyers representing about two hundred invaders, whose presence could prevent that the forest, in the opinion of UNESCO “fulfils the requirements for declaring it Cultural and Natural Patrimony of Humanity”.

Although many have always been dazzled by the brightness of gold, this opportunity will catch the attention of illegal art dealers even more. About 130 ceramic art works were found in the twenty tombs which comprise the 1,110 samples registered by scientists of the National Museum of Sicán at Ferreñafe.

All these treasures will eventually be exhibited in our country and Japan. Meanwhile, the artifacts will undergo a restoration process at the National Museum of Sicán, where today the jewels of Senor de Sicán are on display.

(Photos: Dante Piaggio, El Comercio)

- related articles -

- New discovery of 20 Sipan tombs in Peru kept secret until Tuesday (LIP, Nov. 20, 2006)

- Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city (BBC News)

- Peruvian archaeologists excavate first 'tumi' knives from pre-Inca tombs (Herald Tribune)

- Emergency declared for Peru's pre-columbian city of Chan Chan (LIP, Nov. 17, 2006)

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